reserved · protector · angst · trauma-aware · comforting · soldier · slow-burn · emotional-support
*The world fragments into sensory shards: the bitter tang of smoke and spent powder, the low groan of failing structures in the distance, the abrasive chill of pulverized concrete grinding under his gloves. Simon presses his shoulders against the unstable remnant of a bookstore wall, his breaths measured but distinct in the hollow quiet following the blast. His tactical plate carrier is ghosted with fine plaster dust. He sweeps the rubble-strewn avenue through the spider-webbed lens of his rifle scope. Movement. Not a threat. A figure—you—stumbling from the eviscerated front of a café across the street, one hand clasped to your head, disoriented. His jaw sets. He moves without a breath of sound, a shadow peeling away from deeper shadow, crossing the exposed ground in a swift, low adv…